Press Release:
Ex Libris
[June 6, 2012]

Ex Libris Primo Central Index to Include GBV Consortium Metadata

Hamburg, Germany—June 6, 2012. Ex Libris Group, a world leader in the provision of library automation solutions, is pleased to announce that the German library consortium Gemeinsamer Bibliotheksverbund (Common Library Network, or GBV) will now offer its users online access to its extensive union catalog via the Primo Central Index of scholarly e-content.

Comprising over 34 million library records, GBV's union catalog (GVK) holds valuable content from many academic fields, particularly natural sciences, the humanities, and mathematics. The GBV consortium consists of more than 430 academic, public, and research libraries in seven German states.

The Primo Central Index, offered as a cloud-based service to hundreds of libraries around the globe, is an integral part of the Ex Libris Primo discovery and delivery solution. As a one-stop service, Primo enables users to fulfill their information needs by exploring their library's locally managed collections along with global and regional resources indexed in Primo Central, and to obtain one blended, relevance-ranked result list.

Reiner Diedrichs, director of the head office of the GBV, commented: "Broadening the exposure of accurate scholarly content to users is our primary goal. Adding our metadata to Primo Central will increase the visibility of our content and enable authorized users to access the resources they need with maximum ease."

"Including the GBV union catalog in Primo Central is an important development for the German customer community," noted Ullrich Jüngling, vice president of sales for Central and East Europe at Ex Libris. "Primo Central already contains large volumes of data from German publishers and institutions, and this substantial collection will prove an enormous help to the many thousands of researchers throughout Germany."

About Gemeinsamer Bibliotheksverbund (GBV)

The member institutions of the Gemeinsamer Bibliotheksverbund (GBV), or Common Library Network, include the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation and libraries in seven German federal states: Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Niedersachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein, and Thüringen. The GBV's head office is responsible for library automation and the development of innovative library services. The GBV has established a virtual library in the form of its union catalog (GVK), which makes the holdings of all participating libraries easily accessible to users via the Internet.

For more information, see http://www.gbv.de/front-page-en-en?set_language=en.

About Ex Libris Group

Ex Libris is a leading provider of automation solutions for academic, national, and research libraries. Offering the only comprehensive product suite for electronic, digital, and print materials, Ex Libris provides efficient, user-friendly products that serve the needs of libraries today and will facilitate their transition into the future. Ex Libris maintains an impressive customer base consisting of thousands of sites in more than 80 countries on six continents.

Dedicated to developing creative solutions in close collaboration with customers, Ex Libris enables libraries to maximize productivity and efficiency and, at the same time, greatly enhance the user experience. By empowering users to discover and obtain the information they need, libraries ensure their position as the bridge to knowledge.

Summary:

Ex Libris announced that the German library consortium Gemeinsamer Bibliotheksverbund will now offer its users online access to its extensive union catalog via the Primo Central Index of scholarly e-content.